Can't Loose You!
by candyflossy2000
Summary: When Lucy is kidnapped by super villain Strider, it's up to Gru, Dru and a new friend to get her back.
1. Chapter 1

The little blue I phone started to ring on Lucy's bedside table. It played it's usual cheery tune that slowly woke Lucy up.  
Sleepily Lucy rubbed her eyes and sighed before picking up her phone. She turned it on and grimaced as her eyes stung from the sudden light.  
She saw that she had a miss call from Valerie Da Vinci, the cruel, selfish new leader of the AVL, of all people.

Lucy groaned as she called her back. Gru was still asleep, as he was a heavy sleeper.

"Hello?" Came the ear piercing screech of Valerie.

"Hi it's Lucy, you called earlier." Lucy replied, trying to sound cheerful and professional even though she felt tired and annoyed.

"Yes I did! Why on earth didn't you answer?!" Valerie bellowed down the phone, almost causing Lucy's phone to leap out of her hands.

"Valerie it's like 1.00 O clock in the morning!" Lucy argued.

"Doesn't mean anything! The world is at stake! And you should also know better that to answer back at your boss like that! Do it again and you'll be fired again!" Valerie threatened.

Lucy bit her lip and instantly regretted what she had said. She defiantly didn't want to be fired again.

"Sorry ma'am. What did you want to phone us about anyway?" Lucy asked.

"Well there is a villain on the loose, he's extremely dangerous and he has to be stopped. His lair is located in an abandoned castle on Hilltop Mountain.  
His name is Strider, Sinno Strider."

Lucy gasped, she'd heard that name before, spred around the AVL break rooms and meeting rooms. Apparently he had been on their radar for a long time but no agent dared to approach him, let alone capture him.  
According to the other agent's, he was heartless and cruel, he didn't care who he hurt or how much he hurt them. He wouldn't let anyone stand in his way.  
Lucy really didn't want to go, she felt like screaming no and hanging up.  
Instead she groaned a "we're on it" to Valerie and put her phone down.  
She then tried to wake Gru up.

"Gru? Gruuuu? Honey bear? It's time to get up sweetie." Lucy cooed.

"No, no, no five more minutes mom!" Gru mumbled.

"Hold on since when has your mom ever called you sweetie?" Lucy chuckled.

Gru didn't reply, he just buried his head in his pillow.  
Lucy sighed at this and kept on at him that it was time to get up.

Finally Lucy managed to get him up and told him what was going on.

"Vat?! Really? Do we have to go?" Where Gru's only responses.

Lucy nodded and told him to get ready.  
They put on their casual clothing and headed to the lair of Strider in Lucy's car. Before they left though they stuck a large note on the inside of the girl's bedroom door informing them of their absence.

Once they reached the location of the lair, Lucy felt sick and nervous. She really didn't want to be doing this, she wanted to be at home, safe and warm with her little girl's.


	2. Chapter 2

Gru and Lucy snuck into the lair as silently as they could. They had their Freeze ray's and lipstick tazer's at a ready.  
As they walked through one on the many hallways of the castle, they heard, what sounded like laughter coming from behind one of the doors.

It wasn't a friendly kind of laughter, it was the kind that was making Lucy and Gru's spines trickle with an unpleasant chill.

"Come on I think we've found him' Lucy whispered, ignoring her chill.

She opened the door to where she thought that the laughter was coming from but was confronted by an empty room.  
The laughter had stopped as well, much to Gru and Lucy's confusion.

"Come on we have to keep looking"- Lucy sighed.

On the end of the corridor they had just walked down, there was three more corridors for them to follow. One on the right, one on the left and one on the centre.

"Lucy go down that right corridor and see what you can find. I'll go down the left corridor to see what I can find and then we'll meet back here and go down that middle corridor together." Gru suggested.

Lucy knew why he had suggested this option, both corridors where too narrow to fit more than one person and they did need to capture this guy quickly, so sadly it was the only way out they could think of.

Gru pulled Lucy in for a hug and gave her a kiss. They soon parted and looked at eachother, with fear in both of their eyes.

"Be careful!" They said at the same time.  
"Jinx you owe me a soda!" Lucy joked before rushing down the corridor.

As Lucy walked down the damp, narrow corridor, she felt very insecure and afraid. She felt like she was being watched, and she was right.

Strider grinned when he saw Lucy wondering down the hallway.

"Let's go and get her boys!" He chanted to his five henchmen.

"But what for?" Asked a henchman.

"For her ransom, I'm pretty sure that Gru will do anything to get her back, and it's also for my own enjoyment." Cackled Strider.

Lucy walked down to the end of the corridor and was about to turn back to find Gru but was interrupted by an icy tap on the shoulder.  
She turned to see a silhouette of a man, lurking in the shadows. She had a defiant guess, that this was Strider.

"Hello my dear. What is a pretty girl like you doing down here?" He asked, his voice creeky like a broken door.

"Who are you?" Lucy demanded.

"I thought that you would've figured that out a little while ago my dear. And you haven't answered my question."

"You're Strider!" Lucy snapped, she reached for her lipstick tazer, only to find that her bag was gone from her shoulder.

"You're right my dear, I am Strider. And where you looking for this?" He asked holding up her bag.

"Wha? How? How did you do that?!" Lucy cried, clearly terrified by now.

"Oh I have my secrets. Now what shall I do with you? Oh I know!"  
Without warning Strider grabbed Lucy from behind and held her tight.

"Gruuuuu! GRU HELP ME! Help memmmmmmmhhh." Lucy screamed before Strider slapped his hand over her mouth and nose.

"Mmmmhhhhh!" Lucy cried, struggling under Srider's tough grip.

Lucy saw five burly men walk out of the shadows. They grinned at Lucy and took her off Strider.

"Help!" Lucy started to scream again.  
The men tied her arms behind her back and then tied her feet.  
Then a cloth was shoved into her mouth and tied behind her head.

Lucy still screamed for Gru even though she knew that it was worthless.  
Suddenly she was thrust into a cell type room and left laying on the cold, stone floor.

"Enjoy my dear!" Strider called to her.

Lucy shuffled in her uncomfortable position and felt tears slide down her cheeks.

" _Gru please help me, I need you! I love you! I'm so scared!"_ Lucy screamed in her head.

Her eyes widened with fear as she began to smell knockout gas. She tried to hold her breath but it deamed impossible with the cloth in between her teeth.  
Her world began to go black and her struggling became weak.

" _Gru please help!"_ Where her last thoughts before she lost all consciousness.

Gru walked down to meet Lucy, he hadn't found anything interesting so he hoped that Lucy had.  
When he reached the end of the corridor, he couldn't see Lucy anywhere.

He began to walk up the right corridor but stopped when he smelt the faint smell of knockout gas.

" _Oh no! Lucy's in there!"_ Gru thought.

Unfortunately he couldn't go down that corridor as the risk for him to be knocked out was too high. So instead he decided to get some help from the AVL.

He rushed out of the door before anything could stop him, on his way to the AVL.


	3. Chapter 3

Gru had been on the phone to Lucy's friend Jake, from the AVL, for almost half an hour now, telling him about Lucy's disappearance.

"I think she's been kidnapped by Strider, all I could see, when I looked down that hallway was darkness and all I could smell was knock out gas." Gru said.

"We'll send out the some of the AVL agents to Strider's hideout as soon as we can Mr Gru, we'll get back to you as soon as possible" Jake said "Don't worry Gru I promise that she'll be fine"

"Ok, just keep me up to date" Gru reminded him, before hanging up.

Dru strolled into the room, humming loudly.

"Dru please stop humming! I'm not in the mood!" Snapped Gru, making Dru take a step back.

"Vhat's wrong brother?" Asked Dru

Gru drew a deep breath before telling Dru the events that occured a few hours before.

Dru's face fell and he looked sorrowfuly at Gru.

"I'm so sorry Gru. I bet dat Lucy will be ok. At least I hope. But I want yoo to know that whenever you need me, I'll be there for you!"

"Thanks Dru" Gru said with a smile.

Suddenly Gru's mobile started to vibrate in his pocket. Gru pulled it out and was shocked to see that it read UNKNOWN NUMBER on the screen.

"Don't answer eet! It could be a sales call, selling yoo toilet plungers or something!" Dru panicked.

"Dru I blocked sales calls on here, besides what sales call uses video chat? It could probably be an update on Lucy." Gru said, pressing the answer button.

To his surprise Strider's face came up on the screen, dressed in a black suit and tie.

"Hello Mr Gru, are you wondering where Lucy is?" He sneered.

"What have you done with her?" Demand Gru

"Maybe you'd like to see for yourself!" He laughed stepping sideways to show Lucy.

Her hair had been roughly pulled out of it's bun and laid in a messy heap behind her, her arms where tightly tied behind her back, so much so that Gru could see red and even bloody patches under the rope. There was more rope binding her feet and a big piece of gathertape lay across her mouth.

"LUCY!" Cried Gru, hoping that she would hear him.

"She can't hear you, she's unconscious at the moment." Strider smirked.

"Listen close you disgusting creep when I get my hands on you, I'll show a world of pain!" Gru threatened.

"And so will I!" Dru shrieked into the camera.

"Who are you?" Asked Strider, in disgust.

"I'm Dru! Twin brother of Gru! Good to meet you! Oh wait not good to meet you because you have Lucy!'

Gru started to steer Dru away from the phone.

"Ok, ok Dru how 'bout you put de gurl's to bed huh?" He said in a sing-song voice.

"Oh YES! Bedtime story here I come!" Dru cried, sprinting out of the room.

"What's his problem?" Asked Strider, raising one eyebrow.

"Oh he always acts like that. Anyway we are getting off de subject, let her go!"

"Oh I will in time, but there is something you'll have to do for me first."


	4. Chapter 4

"Vhat is eet?" Asked Gru, glaring.

"It's simple, if you want Lucy back, you'll have to give me all your minions, your freeze ray and most importantly: the shrink ray"

Gru stood mouth open in shock. He couldn't just give the minions away, they where like family.

'And if I don't?" Asked Gru

Strider chuckled, he walked over to Lucy and stoked her hair.

"Well let's just say that it will be excruciatingly painful for our dear Lucy"

"No!" Gru shouted

"But that's only if you don't give me what I want! Tomorrow bright and early I'll video chat you, Lucy will be awake and you'll be able to talk to her if you want."

Gru nodded slowly before glaring at Strider.

"But if I find out that yoo've hurt her before tomorrow then yoo better say your prayers!" Gru threatened, before pressing END CALL.

Dru suddenly came skipping in.

"Did yoo have fun putting de gurl's to bed?" Gru asked

"Oh yes! I think they enjoyed it too! Anyway vhat's going on with dat guy?" Asked Dru

"He's threatening to hurt Lucy if I don't give him what he wants. I'm so worried about her."

"Vhat does he want?" Asked Dtu

"He wants de freeze ray, de shrink ray and he wants de...minions." Gru mutterd.

Dru's mouth gaped in shock, he took a couple of moments to tune back into reality.

"No! We can't give him de minions!" Yelled Dru.

"I'm sorry Dru but we have to, if we don't then he could kill her for all we know."

Dru nodded and mutted that he was going to bed, leaving Gru in the living room.

He wondered over to the large rhino armchair, in front of him was the girl's pink teddy bear armchair and next to it was Lucy's blue rabbit armchair. Gru rememberd buying it for her after their wedding, he remembered Lucy's surprised face

Gru then crawled of to bed and lay in his and Lucy's red twin bed. He patted Lucy's pillow and sighed.

"It's going to be alright Lucy, I promise." He mutted before falling asleep.

As the sun rose up, Gru was awoken by his phone. He answed it and glared when he saw Strider.

"Ok Strider show me Lucy, awake and well!" Gru demanded "Or else!"

"Alright, alright don't be so impatient!" Snapped Strider "she's right here."

Lucy came on the screen looking absolutely terrified. She was tied to a chair, duct tape across her mouth, her eyes widened with pure fear. She looked like she was going to cry.  
Gru felt awful, seeing Lucy in that state and being unable to help her. She was obviously helpless and afraid of the pain and suffering that could come her way.

"Gmmph!" Lucy screamed

Gru tried to be as gentle with her as he could, speaking to her as if she was a young child, to calm her down.

"Hey sweetie, it's going to be alright I promise, don't be afraid." He soothed.

Lucy nodded slowly, but her eyes where still gleaming with fright. What had Strider done to her? She had never been this frightened before even on the most scariest missions.

"Now you've said hello to your little wife, time to get down to business. Show me the freeze ray!"

Gru nervously shifted his eyes away from the screen.  
The freeze ray was down in the lab and it would take Gru too long to go get it, besides he would wake the girl's, Dru and the minions.

"No, I can't yet, I don't have it on me." Gru said firmly.

Strider glared at this statement, he reached into his trouser pocked and took out a small knife with a sharp blade.  
He then strode (see what I did there?) over to Lucy's chair and pulled back her head with her hair, making Lucy hiss.

"Vhat are you doing?" Asked Gru

"Well you won't show me the freeze ray so Lucy will suffer the consequences."

"No! I don't believe that you are dat evil! She didn't do anything wrong!" Cried Gru

Without warning, Strider dragged the blade down Lucy's cheek. Lucy screamed behind the tape and tried to turn her head but ultimately failed.  
Her struggling became weak from blood loss and she began to cry from the pain.

"No! Stop! Please Strider!" Begged Gru

Strider dropped the knife and let go of Lucy's hair. The cut began to bleed heavily and tears of pain slid down Lucy's cheeks.

"Do you believe me now Mr Gru?" Strider smirked

"Yoo sick, twisted..." Gru began

"Spare me the insults Mr Gru and speak to your wife." Strider said  
He then tore the tape off Lucy's mouth and rested his hands on her shoulders.

"Gru!" Cried Lucy

"Lucy!" Gru cried back

"I'm so sorry honey" Lucy whispered, hanging her head, making blood slide down her face.

"Oh sweetie you have nothing to be sorry for. If anyone should be sorry, I should be sorry beacuse I got you into this mess" Gru said

"No you didn't. Don't blame yourself honey bear, I mmmphh!" Lucy began, she was interrupted by Strider, putting his hand over his mouth.

"Sorry times up! My phone is dying!" Strider sneered.

"Nmmmmmph!" Lucy screamed, struggling against her bonds and captor's hand.

"No! Lucy!" Gru shouted before the screen faded to black.

Lucy sobbed and looked at the floor.

"What's the matter my dear? Are you missing Gru? Funny you only spoke to him a second ago!" Mocked Strider, he took Lucy by the chin and smiled at her.

"Get off me!" Lucy protested, shaking her head frantically.

"Now, now calm down dear, you're giving me lip and I wouldn't want to do that if I where you, ecspessially with a large, gaping cut on your cheek. Though when I think about it I guess when your a Wilde, it comes with your genetics.'

Lucy's eyes widened and her eyebrows furrowed.

"How do you know I was a Wilde before I married Gru?" Growled Lucy

"Like I said before I have my secrets..." Hissed Strider, letting go of Lucy's chin.

He turned to walk out of the room before Lucy interrupted him.

"Hey! You can't just leave me in here!" Lucy cried, struggling.

"You make a point, I can't just leave you in here, with your ability to speak and call for help. So..." He ripped off some tape off a roll and put it over Lucy's mouth, he smoothed it down to make sure that it stayed.

"Mmmphh! Lmmmt mmmmm gmmm!" Lucy yelled through the tape.

"Sorry I can't hear you! That's because you can't talk! Oh well, you'll be dead soon any way, so I wouldn't worry" Strider cackled ( **he really is a heartless ass isn't he!** ) walking out of the room, locking the door.

Lucy felt hot tears well in her eyes, she tried to blink them back, but no avail.

morrow yay!


	5. Chapter 5

Lucy sighed and tipped her chair back, in pure bordem. She was bewildered about the previous events that had occurred. She couldn't explain how much she missed Gru and the girls.  
She leant back in her chair, her arms where aching from struggling so much and her mouth was as dry as the desert due to the tape across it.

She looked around the room for an object to use to escape and her eyes widened with relif when she saw her blue overcoat slung over a chair. She had to get it.

She begun by trying to get the tape off so she could bite through the ropes and free herself.  
She looked around the room and saw a loose shelf with a pointy edge. She dragged her feet on the floor to move the chair towards the shelf.  
The chair made an ear piercing screech as it dragged along the metal floor, making Lucy wince. She hoped that it hadn't alerted anyone.  
She stopped and waited for someone to investigate, but thankfully no one came.

She continued her journey to the shelf and rubbed the side of the tape on the edge of the shelf. The side of the tape latched onto the shelf and pulled off.

Once her mouth was free, Lucy began to experiment with her bindings, biting down hard on the rope until she felt it go loose. She smiled in delight and wriggled until the rope fell to the floor.

"Yes!" She whispered.

She gasped when she saw the cuts and friction burns on her wrists. She hissed in pain as she tried to wipe them clean of blood, with her hands. She then drew attention to her cheek, still leaking blood. She wiped it clean with her scarf and then went to her overcoat.

She dug into the pockets of her coat and pulled out her I phone. She could easily call for help now!  
She dialled Gru's number and waited for him to pick up.

"Come on honey bear..." she muttered, feeling her body go tight with tension.

"Hello?" Gru's voice came through clearly.

"Hi honey it's Lucy " Lucy whispered

"Lucy! I'm so happy to hear your voice again! Are you alright?" He asked

"Yeah I'm fine I'm trying to escape..."

Lucy paused, she heard a loud creaking noise behind her and turned to see Strider opening the door.

"Oh are you indeed?" He smirked.

"Lucy? Lucy? LUCY!" Gru shouted.

Strider walked towards Lucy and grabbed her by the wrist and squeezed so her phone came flying out of her hand.  
He then twisted her arms behind her back and pulled her close to him. Lucy struggled in discomfort and tried to free herself but Strider's hold was firm.

Strider looked at Lucy's phone on the floor and stepped on it, causing it to smash. He then kicked it to the other side of the room.

"You really thought that you could escape me?" Mocked Strider beginning to drag her towards the door.

"Let go off me!" Lucy demanded, trying to pry Strider's fingers off her wrist.

Without a sound, Strider threw her into a tiny room with nothing in it, no chair, no bed, no window, nothing.

"Get comfy my dear because this is where you are going to spend the rest of you worthless life! (Gosh this guy really is the number one a hole!)

"Wait!" Lucy called after him.

"What?!" Shouted Strider back.

"For real, why are you doing all of this to me, what have I ever done to you?!" Lucy cried

"I told you it's for my enjoyment!" Snapped Strider

"Oh please! I'm a trained secret agent, I don't belive that for a second! What's the real reason?" Lucy asked

Strider took a deep breath and lent against the wall, he then raised his head to give Lucy a death state.

"It's beacuse I wanted revenge, on your parents. I figured that doing all this stuff to their precious daughter would be a way to pay them back for what they did to me before they died."

Lucy's mouth gaped and her eyes welled with tears.

"What...what did they do that was so bad that you had to punish their daughter, 16 years after their deaths?" Lucy yelled, fighting back tears.

"They betrayed me! That's what they did! We used to be a trio me, Charlie and beautiful Julie but as time went by they stopped hanging around with me and started hanging around with Silas Ramsbottom until eventually joining the AVL!" Strider bellowed "then they married and had Samuel, Isaac and then you.  
They loved you so much as you where their first and only girl, they never invited me to meet you or even babysit you. So I thought that the best way to get back at them for abandoning me, was to hurt their pride and joy."

With that Strider left the room, leavig Lucy crying in the dark.


	6. Chapter 6

Gru stood in front of a black board, making a plan for rescuing Lucy. Dru sat in a chair opposite, sipping coffee from a white mug with a D on it.

"So vhat is de plan?" Asked Dru

Gru started drawing a picture of Strider's lair, on the chalk board, before turning around to face Dru.

"Ok so we use our dad's villian suits to make sure that when we sneak in, we can't be seen. We also need to take dad's gold car but when we get there, we have to hide it round de back of de lair.  
Next we use de invisible setting on our super suits to sneak through the door of the lair. Once we're inside..." Gru began before Dru interrupted him.

"Hold on, this guy has a door that leads into his lair? So no secret passageways or tubes or anything! This dude does not know how to build a lair!" Dru shouted.

"Dru! Dat is not important right now! We'll discuss eet later, after we've got Lucy back!" Gru snapped "anyway as I was saying, once we're inside, still invisible, we look for Lucy. Once we find her then we grab her and escape before they catch us. Good plan?"

"Yeah I guess, but I still don't get de door."

Gru rolled his eyes and sighed at his weird brother.

Gru was quite impressed with his plan and excited about seeing Lucy, but deep inside he had a feeling of worry.

"Anyway I'm going to put de gurl's to bed and go to bed myself. Night Dru." Gru mutterd, sloping out of the lab, with his head low.

"Brother? Are yoo ok?" Asked Dru, walking towards him.

"I'm fine, I'm fine...crushing it. I'm actually worried about something. I'm worried that we'll be too late." Gru mumbled.

"Well we're going to rescue her in the morning, I don't think that will be too late!" Dru said, clearly confused.

"Oh no, no, no! Not like dat, I mean like what if we get there and Lucy is already...g..gone?" Gru mutterd.

"Don't worry Gru, I promise that we'll get there in time. Go and say goodnight to the gurls and get some sleep for tomorrow." Dru instructed.

"Dat's another thing I'm worried about. Vhat do I tell the gurls if they start asking me where Lucy is?"

"You just try and tell them de truth, they need to know." Dru replied "goodnight Gru"

"Night Dru" Gru mumbled sadly.

He walked into the girl's bedroom, Edith was playing video games, Agnes was playing with Lucky and Kyle and Margo was reading a book.

"Alright time for bed!" Gru said, clapping his hands.

Agnes leaped into her bomb bed and dove underneath the covers as Lucky and Kyle leapt up and lay on top of the quilt.  
Margo, who was already lying on the bed, reading her book, lay her book on her dressing table and put her glasses on top and pulled the covers over her.  
Edith turned off her game and put it on the shelf behind her, but instead of going under the covers, she stared at Gru with pure suspicion.

"Gru? Where's Lucy?" She asked, attracting the attention of her sisters, who sat up and looked at Gru with equally suspicious glances.

"Gurls I know dat I should've told yoo sooner but I'm afraid dat someone has kidnapped Lucy."

The girl's suspicious faces turned to sadness and worry for their mum.

"Will mommy come back?" Asked Agnes, pouting.

"Oh of course she will sweetie, in fact uncle Dru and I are going to rescue her tomorrow!" Gru said, trying to cheer the girls up.

"Cool can we come with you?" asked Edith, grinning.

"No Edith, it wouldn't be a good idea, de guy who has Lucy is very dangerous, like Balthazar Bratt he doesn't care who he hurts." Gru replied.

"Does that mean he's hurt mommy?" Agnes panicked, clinging to Lucky and Kyle.

Gru knew that Strider had really hurt Lucy, he had cut her cheek, tied her hands together with tough rope so her wrists bled and he had knocked her out at one point. But he couldn't tell the girls this, ecspessially not Agnes.

"No, no, no sweetie, he hasn't hurt her because he's had no need to." Gru lied, trying not to make it obvious, that he was lying. Thankfully the girls didn't notice, which slightly shocked Gru, considering that Margo could usually see right through him.

"What time will you be back?" Margo asked, equally as nervous as Agnes.

"Well we are leaving in the early morning so we should be back in the afternoon. Grandma will look after you." Gru explained.

He then held out his arms to his three brave little girl's and gave them a hug.

"Goodnight my three little kittens. Mommy unicorn will be back soon." Gru said, switching the light off and closing the door.

As he walked down the hall that lead to his and Lucy's room, he felt his phone softly ring in his pocket.  
Gru frowned, thinking that it was Strider again but calmed when he saw the words JAKE IS CALLING on the screen.

"Hello?"

"Hey Gru it's only me" A soft, young male voice came through the speaker.

"Oh hey Jake, how are you?" Gru asked.

"I'm alright I was just ringing about you, Lucy and girls. How are things going? Is she home yet?" Asked Jake.

"Nope I'm afraid not. But me and Dru are rescuing her tomorrow, in fact how about you come along?" Gru asked.

"Oh yeah! I'll get ready!" Jake said excitedly.

"Me and Dru will get you a super suit! See you tomorrow!" Gru said before hanging up.

He took the lift down to the lab and ran into the bedroom that Dru shared with the minions and started to shake Dru to wake him up.

"Dru! Dru!" Gru screamed

"What! Oh no is there a fire? Is there a gigantic monster that is going to kill us all?!" Dru cried.

"Nope none of those! Have we got any more villian suits?" Asked Gru.

"Uh yeah, it's quite old but not faulty, I used to wear it when I was in my 30s but it won't fit me now. Why do you need it?" Dru gabbled.

"I need it because we've got an extra guest coming to rescue Lucy tomorrow, his name is Jake Rider." Gru explained.

Dru opened a keep sake box and dug around until he found the bright red latex suit.

"Ta da!" He yelled, grinning widely.

"It's perfect!"

To be continued...


	7. Chapter 7

Lucy sat in the tiny room, holding her blood stained scarf. She hugged it close, knowing that it was the last thing her mother gave to her before her passing.  
A question kept creeping into her head, why did her parents abandon him in the first place? It must've been something he did. But what?

She heard unfamiliar footsteps walking past her room. She got up and sprinted to the door.

"Help! Let me out of here!" She screamed, banging on the door.

"Shut your moutb or I'll duct tape it shut!" A deep, growling voice called back.

Lucy backed away from the door, slightly startled. She went to sit back down until she heard the same, growling voice speak again.

"Sorry about that. Strider told me to tell his prisoners to shut it otherwise I'm going to be left for dead." The growl mumbled.

Lucy paused for a brief second before walking back towards the door.

"Are you serious? Strider would actually kill his own henchmen?" She asked

"Oh yeah, he's got a heart of stone. If it means that he can get his own way, he doesn't care who he hurts or kills. Kinda sad really, he used to be a lovelt bloke. But people change." He replied "has he hurt you in any way?"

"Yeah, he's done quite a lot of damage, he's cut my cheek, my wrists and he broke my only chance to escape, my phone." Lucy mutterd back

"I'm sorry about all of that. What have you done that's so bad?"

"Nothing, literally nothing! He says he's doing it to get revenge on my parents! My parents have been dead for 16 years! I don't know why he wants to get revenge on them, almost 2 decades later!" Lucy replied, frantically.

The growling guy sat speechless for a while taking it all in.

 _"Was Strider actually serious?"_ He thought " _what does he think he's going to gain by hurting a dead couple's daughter? He really is the sickest villain around!"_

"Don't worry, I'll get you out of there!" He said.

Lucy smiled as she heard the key turn in the lock, she picked up her scarf, which was still stained with blood and wrapped it around her neck.

The door opened and Lucy came face to face with a rather tall, bulky guy. He had long brown hair and a long brown beard.

Lucy thought that he looked like Hagtid from Harry Potter or Stoick from How To Train Your Dragon, but she couldn't decide which.

Without warning he grabbed her aching arm and dragged her down the corridor. Lucy struggled to keep up with his pace and almost tripped over in her heels.

"Where... are we...going?" She gasped out, still speeding down the hallway.

"In here!" The growling guy said, opening a small door and tossing Lucy into a room.

He followed in after her and locked the door.

"Ok first of all we have to do our introductions before anything else. I'll start: My name is Stan, my age is no one's business, my family is a cat called terror and I live here. Now you!"

"I'm Lucy, age 34, my family is my husband Gru, my three beautiful girl's Margo, Edith and Agnes, my brother in law Dru, our minions, our dog Kyle, our goat Lucky and Dr Nefario and I live at Gru's house." She said, fluently.

"Wow! That's quite a big family you have there! No wonder that you want to go home! Now how do I contact them?"

Gru was riding in his dad's "Villain wheels" with Dru and Jake.  
He suddenly felt his phone vibrate in his coat pocket. He fumbled around in the pocket until he finally pulled it out.

UNKNOWN NUMBER came onto the screen and Gru was banking that he knew who it was.

"Listen Strider, if you've done anything to her..." Gru began but was shortly cut off.

"It's not Strider." Stan's voice sounded over the phone "I'm Stan and I've just saved your wife Lucy here. Do you want to talk to her?"

Stan passed his phone to Lucy, who greatly took it.

"Hi honey!" Lucy's cheery voice sounded in Gru's ear.

"Hello sweetie! Are yoo ok?" He asked, his voice cracking slightly, mostly beacuse he was so relieved to hear her.

"Yeah I'm ok, better than ok actually! Stan unlocked the door on my cell and we are trying to find a way out of here. Where are you?"

"Me, Dru and Jake where just on our way to rescue yoo, do yoo vant us to meet yoo outside de lair?" Asked Gru

"Yes, please come and pick me up" Lucy whispered "bye honey bear, I love you"

"I love you too baby." Gru replied, hanging up.

Gru breathed a sigh of relif and leaned back in his seat, Lucy was safe and that was all that matterd to him.

"So who was dat?" Asked Dru, trying to keep his eyes on the road.

"It was Lucy, she's fine and trying to escape. Now all we need to do is go in, pick her up and take her home again." Gru replied

Jake, was asleep in the middle seat, he hadn't stirred for the last hour and they where getting close to the lair. But neither Gru or Dru had the heart to wake him.

Meanwhile...

Lucy sat on the floor with Stan next to her, Lucy couldn't help but stare at the wrists and groan.

"Gosh those wounds are really bad, when you get home you have to get those seen to." He said

",If she gets home..." A familiar voice echoed in the doorway.

Lucy and Stan looked up to see Strider, weilding a weapon with about ten othet henchmen standing around him.

"How did you get in here?!" Stan demanded, standing in front of Lucy, to protect her.

"Well it's a room in my own lair, I'm very likely to have a key aren't I?" Strider smirked

Without warning the henchmen walked forward and tried to make grabs at Lucy. Lucy dodged them and moved further back to avoid them.

Stan threw a series of punches at his fellow henchmen, knocking them square in the jaw making them collapse in front of him.

"Good job, Stan but not good enough, because you see I have back up!" Strider chuckled. He stepped to the side to reveal, about sixty more henchmen.

Lucy gasped and glared in confusion.

"But how? You only had a few henchmen before!" She cried

Strider didn't reply, instead he just pointed at Lucy and Stan and then walked out of the door.

The henchmen attacked, grabbing Stan and throwing him against the wall. The grabbed Lucy her arms and wrestled her to the floor. Lucy began to scream, not because of the pain and discomfort that she was facing; it was because of the pain and discomfort that Stan was facing.

"Stop it! Please don't hurt him!" She whimperd pathetically.

Just at that moment, to everyone's surprise, Gru, Dru and Jake burst in.

"Let her go!" Gru shouted to the henchmen.

The henchmen just laughed at him and pulled Lucy on her feet.

"Gru!" Lucy yelled in relif before her mouth was covered by the hand of a henchmen.

"Get your filthy hand away from her mouth!" Gru demanded, getting ready to completely incase this guy's head in ice from the freeze ray.

"What are you going to do about it?" The same creeky, oily voice came from behind Gru.

"Ahhhhh! It's a ghoast!" Dru screamed, hugging Jake, who shoved him away.

Strider merely chuckled and brushed past the trio in the door way, over to Lucy.

He placed his hand on her chin and smirked at her terrified expression.

"Mmmph! Nmmm!" Lucy cried, trying to shake his hand off.

"Leave her out of this! This is between yoo ( I remembered Gru's accent yay!) and me Strider!" Gru bellowed

"Fine then, it's between you and me." Strider agreed, backing away from Lucy.

Gru was quite taken a back that Strider had completely backed away just like that. No he wouldn't just do that, he'll definitely do something.

"But before we begin our little fight" Strider continued "you'll have to do something for me first, Mr Gru."

"Vhat is it?" Gru groaned

Strider took a couple of steps closer to Lucy again.

"I need you to hand over that freeze ray. Now!"

Gru glared and replied a simple: "No!"

Strider glared at Gru and moved closer towards Lucy and grabbed her arms. He dragged her away from the henchman holding her, and used his right hand to restrian her and his left to pull out a blade. The same blade that he had cut Lucy's cheek on.

"Maybe you need a bit of persuasion!" He said, holding the blade against Lucy's neck.

Lucy whimpered in terror and her eyes widened. She tried to shake free her wrists, but strider held tightly.

"Ok, ok I'll give it to you! Just don't hurt her!" Gru begged, holding out his freeze ray.

To be continued...


	8. Chapter 8

Gru couldn't hand it over, there was way too mucn of a risk. A risk of Strider killing Lucy even if Gru gave him the freeze gun.  
He stood rigid, contemplating what to do. He saw pure fear, shining in her eyes and knew he had to think fast.

He placed his finger on the trigger, pulled and realised.

Strider's eyes widened and the knife slipped from his grasp, as did Lucy, who crashed on the floor, holding out her arms for support. Jake and Dru ran over to her checking if she was alright.

Strider felt the cold ice hit his chest and incase his body. He was no more than a icy statue.

Gru then turned to the henchmen and did the same to them, before running over to Lucy and kneeling down to her side.

Lucy sat up and sunk into Gru's arms. Gru cupped her right wrist in his hand and carefully examined it. He dropped it when he heard Lucy hiss in discomfort.

"Yoo ok?" He asked her.

"It hurts! It hurts on my wrists, my cheek and now my neck!" Lucy cried, wincing.

"Shhhh, I know it hurts sweetie. But don't worry we'll get yoo to a hospital." Gru soothed.

Dru and Jake stood up and started walking towards a door, Gru following them, carrying Lucy in a bridle style.

"Hey! What about me?!" Stan shouted.  
He was still pinned down by now frozen henchmen. He looked cold and uncomfortable.

Jake walked back towards him, before turning his head towards Dru.

"Well are you gonna help me get this guy free or what?" He asked

Dru ran over and together they began to pry the ice to get Stan free.

"You guys go on ahed, we'll catch up!" Called Jake, gesturing to Gru and Lucy.

Gru nodded and carried Lucy out of the room and down one of the many hallways.

"Ouch.." Lucy mumbled, biting her lip to control the pain.

"Shhhhh I know, I know. Don't worry sweetie we'll get yoo to de hospital soon." Gru mutterd, stroking Lucy's hair back.

They approached the car and Gru gently sat Lucy in the passenger seat and strapped her in.  
He then got into the drivers seat and switched on the engine.

"Alright Lucy, we are go!" He called to her, revving the engine and speeding away.

They arrived at the hospital and Gru swearved into a parking space, almost crashing the car in the process. He then got Lucy out of the car and carried her down the car oark, towards the entrance.

When Gru stepped into the hospital, he felt himself well up with nerves. He saw people looking at him with concern and confusion, but none of them said anything.

All of a sudden a nurse came up to him and began talking at top speed, not letting Gru get a single word in.

"What's happened to her sir? How can I help you? Should I get a bed ready?" He babbled.

Gru didn't know what to tell him. He couldn't just say: "She was kidnapped by a cycopath who wants revenge on her because he parents betrayed him! He kept hurting her, so I froze him with my freeze ray!" He would sound like a complete maniac besides it would probably, eventually blow the AVL's cover.  
Instead he decided to take the easy way out: lie.

"Well she fell off a..." Gru paused, as he tried to think of something "...ladder! Yes a ladder! A tall, massive ladder!"

The nurse looked doubtful but he couldn't turn them away, ecspessially not in the condition that Lucy was currently in.

"Take her down to room 496, down that hall." The nurse directed, pointing towards a corridor on the right of him.

"Ok thank yoo." Gru said, he started to walk down the corridor, keeping his eyes peeled for room 496.

He finally found it, right at the end of the hallway. It was a descent little room, nothing like the ones in Strider's lair.

It had white walls, a metal framed bed with white bedding, a wooden bedside table with a small cupboard, to keep things in and a large window with white curtains.

Gru lay Lucy on the bed and pulled the blankets over her.

"Are yoo ok sweetie?" He asked

"Yeah I'm fine" Lucy lied, in an attempt to shake off the pain.

"Your nor fine, I can tell when yoo are lying." Gru replied

To be continued...soon


	9. Chapter 9

Gru laid his hand on Lucy's and kissed her on the head.

"You're right Gru, I was lying. I'm not ok at all...I'm terrified." Lucy mumbled, bowing her head

"Why are yoo afraid? You're safe now" Gru said, stroking her chin.

"But, what if he takes me again? He could kill me! Or you! Or even the girls!" Lucy cried, franticly.

"Hey, hey, shhhhh. Honey he's not going to come back. I froze him remember?" Gru whispered, putting his arm round Lucy's shoulders.

"But what if he breaks free?" She asked "Ice melts eventually"

Gru stroked Lucy's fringe and sighed. She was right, ice does melt. But the AVL would take care of him.

"Don't worry, I'd imagine that de AVL will take care of him."

Just then a nurse walked in, carrying bandages and plasters, as well as a bottle of anticeptic. She set them down on Lucy's bedside, before intruducing herself.

"Hello I'm Nurse Wittington, I'll be handling Lucy's wounds." She said.

She was a tall, skinny woman with dark skin and dark wavey hair. She wore typical nursing clothes and shiney red heels.

"Hello, I am Gru, her husband" Gru said

The nurse nodded and smiled before going to Lucy's side. She took hold of her wrists and dabbed the anticeptic on them with a clensing cloth, making Lucy grimmice. She then wrapped them in bandages.

"Thanks" Lucy smiled

"No problem, it's my job. Now let's do your cheek and neck." She said.

She dabbed the anticeptic on her cheek, making Lucy wince, before a thick plaster was put over the wound. Her neck was given simular treatment, but with a thinner plaster.

"There we go! You are all done!" the nurse said "any problems, please let us know"

"We will, thank you" Gru said, patting Lucy's hand.

Back at Strider's lair...

Dru and Jake yanked the last peice of ice from Stan's body and pulled him away from the wall. Stan looked very dazed and somewhat afraid.

"Are you alright mate?" Jake asked, a look of concern spreading across his face even though he wasn't sure if he could trust Stan. That's what everyone liked about Jake, he was as hard as nails and took absolutly no nonsense from anyone, but deep inside he was full of kindness and concern for everyone's well being, even for people he didn't like nor trust.

"Yeah, I think so." Stan mutterd "did the girl...Lucy..make out ok?"

"Yes she's alright, she's with her husband Gru." Jake said "Now we need to get you the hospital somehow."

Stan suddenly shook his head, so much so that his beard almost slapped Jake in the face.

"No we've got no time! We have to get Strider to the AVL...now!" Stan panicked.

"Don't worry I'll do that, while Dru takes you to the hospital, right Dru?" Jake asked, looking at Dru.

"But we don't have de car! Gru's taken eet!" Dru replied

Jake sighed and death stared Dru with his deep brown eyes.

"Then call an ambulence! This guy needs help!" Jake shouted.

While Dru frantically called an ambulance, Jake calmly phoned the AVL.

"Hey Valarie, I've got Strider. Send some agents to pick him up!" Jake said.

But little did they see, Strider's ice prison break...

To be continued...


End file.
